The trick is in the ears
by Coora Ithirid
Summary: While attempting to study Verne has an accident involving his half-elf friend Gus, then karma pays him back in spades.


Grumpily staring into space Verne wondered what he had done to deserve such torment, his roommate Gus perched atop his shoulders sticking his nose into the poor redhead's business. He normally didn't mind so much but attempting to study while his rather loud best friend won't shut up in his attempts to make him laugh didn't do his patience any favours. The young mortie usually loves Gus's jokes except when trying to concentrate on school work, then the half-elf became a full nuisance. Letting out an aggravated sigh, "Please Gus, could you just stop and let me study?" he didn't expect his friend to listen and with increased strain on his nerves the comedic hybrid proved him 100% correct. Having had enough of his immature friend's pestering Verne used a technique Cassy had taught him for dealing with a certain bothersome half-elf, he firmly grabbed the other boy's pointed ear. The effect proved immediately effective causing the blond to stop his ramblings with a pained yelp, "Ow! Verne let go, that hurts!" Gus never approved of others touching his sensitive ears.

Unknown to both boys Cassandra raced thru the halls of the school to the boy dorm she hadn't seen either of them all morning, she hoped to strong arm them into helping her in the school garden. Some of those trees were getting rowdy, they couldn't risk sapient trees wandering thru the streets after all. Cassy hoped to interrupt them doing something embarrassing, like the time she sneaked into their room to find Verne fast asleep on Gus's lap from studying too hard. The elf just sat there quietly grumbling to himself about personal space, oddly he seemed in no hurry to remove the sleeping human's head from his lap. The way his face practically glowed with such a deep shade of red upon noticing her along with his incoherent sputtering made her laugh so hard she had to hold onto the door to stop herself from falling to the floor. The witch giggled at the memory of how awkward it had been for both boys once the dust settled, she would still tease them about it when she felt like getting a reaction from them.

"Will you quiet down so I can read, Buddy?" The redhaired boy asked his roomy with a devilish smirk. Despite his usually pacifist nature Verne always found something enjoyable about making the proud Gus crumple like paper using only his index finger and thumb. Get such a grip on the ear's point then apply a small amount of pressure to render any elf, or half elf, at your mercy. Though he always loved watching Gus squirm he'd never use it to actually hurt him, so he was always careful to not pinch his pointy ears too hard. A magic pumpkin bouncing off the window however startled them both causing a rather unfortunate accident to occur. Gus let out a scream the likes of which Verne had never heard, the sensitivity of his elven ears gave him hearing better than a human but were more vulnerable to pain and during their shared fright his friend had caused him a great deal of pain indeed. Verne had unintentionally yanked his hand back without releasing his grip, needless to say this upset them both, Gus especially. "O-oh god, Gus! I'm so sorry!"

Cassy's heart jumped into her throat upon hearing a scream of pain she hadn't heard in years, half the school also jumped by the fairly peaceful air of the day suddenly being interrupted in such a way. She shoved two of her fellow students aside then bolted as fast as her legs could carry her to her friend's room.

Gus writhed on the bed holding his ear in some desperate attempt to stop the burning pain emanating from it. Thru his tear blurred vision he could see the horrified look on Verne's face, as the mortie panicked. He knew it had been an accident but that didn't do anything to help with the situation. He knew of a way to lessen the pain but couldn't stop his hands from shaking, so his own attempts would only make things worse. He needed help. Gus managed to croak out, "Verne-! I need your help!" then grabbed his friend's shirt. Giving his fretting room mate a good shaking the half-elf managed to make Verne focused so he could tell Verne how to help him, hopefully the mortie could keep himself steady enough to get the job done. "L-listen to me Verne!"

Much to Verne's surprise the stricken blond grabbed his hand then yanked it to him. The redhead braced himself for a punch to the face, only for his hand be planted upon Gus's poor ear. "What?! What am I supposed to do?" He found himself deeply confused by the possibly deluded half-elf's wishes, what good could come of putting one of his clumsy hands near his already pained ear? "Rub the point, Verne. I-It'll help with the pain!" Unable to grasp the logic but willing to do whatever he could to help his tormented friend Verne did what was asked of him without question. The way Gus flinched when his fingers touched made him feel even worse, the poor guy must really be desperate to willing have his dumb room mate help him now. Being as gentle as his nerve would allow the young mortie used his thumb, index and middle finger to gingerly rub the afflicted ear's point. After a few tense seconds the writhing half-elf began to relax, the tension leaving his twitching body. The pain remained but had been subdued somewhat till it numbed down to being a bearable ache. Drying his face on his sleeve Gus slowly sat up, Verne's dexterus hands were doing wonders to return him back to a good mood. "You're not half bad at this," Even after such an unpleasant experience the elven goof gave that same flashy smile, letting Verne know there weren't any hard feelings, "the ear rubbing I mean."

Gus chuckled at Verne's quizzical look. "You've been practicing?" A grin spread over his face at his friend's flustered reaction, only for them to be interrupted with Cassy stumbling into the room. The young witch looked like she had ran a marathon, heard his cry of pain no doubt, her and most of the school probably. Even with the newly arrived witch distracting them both those nimble fingers still rubbed his poor ear, he'd have to get Verne to use those magic fingers on his ears again sometime. Of cause he'd have to make an excuse or trick him some way, he wouldn't give his roomy the satisfaction of making him ask. Gus noticed himself zoning out as the pain ebbed away and replaced with such a wonderful sensation that flowing down from the point of his once pained ear. Not able to keep his focus anymore his green eyes drifted shut as he faintly heard an odd rumbling noise. Thou Gus ignored the odd sound, too zoned out to pay attention to much of anything, his two friends took immediate notice of it.

Cassy chuckled in disbelief, she'd never seen her admittedly silly friend act so strange. The sight of 'The Great Gus' limply leaning on the confused mortie purring amused her greatly, she'd never let them live this down. "Well done, Verne. Without a single spell you've turned a half-elf into a cat!" Giggling to the surreal scene in front of her as the embarrassed Techno Mage's face turned almost as red as his hair. "Vhat is going on in here?!" Miss Crystalgazer appeared from nowhere startling Cassandra from her smugness, Verne seemed less surprised and Gus mostly likely didn't notice the Headmistress at all. The school nurse screeched, "Is anyone hurt?!" as she almost skidded past having to grab the door frame to stop herself. For such an old woman Nurse Wandsworth could out run most of the staff and student body it seemed.

Upon seeing the nurse arrive Verne decided to cease with his own pain relief treatment, the moment his fingers stopped a whine emitted from the formerly blissful boy sat next to him. Glancing at his friend his blue eyes met Gus's green ones, the half-elf seemed deeply upset that he had stopped. Suddenly letting out a yelp his room mate unintentionally scared him off the bed, the pain of his injury rushing back to him full force caused said outburst. Now taking more of a look the young mortie saw just how red raw the ear looked making him feel even worse about the accident. He could barely hear the nurse chewing him out over what she assumed to had been a fight, he found all his attention focusing like a laser beam upon the pained expression on his friend's face. It took Crystalgazer sternly calling his name to snap him back to reality, and judging by the unimpressed look on her face he'd very much like to give that unreliable invisibility spell another shot.

Later that day Cassy stood outside Crystalgazer's office listening to the lecture her classmate had the misfortune at being on the receiving end of. Even thou it had technically been Verne's fault that Gus got hurt she still felt sorry for him, the witch soon found she had company. The rather unhappy blond boy walked up beside her, a bag of ice held against his injured ear. "You feel any better, Gus?" She asked to break the near silence that filled the hallway. Pouting the half-elf grumbled, "Stupid ice is giving me brain freeze..." while his free ear twitched on it's own to show his displeasure. Wishing to cheer up the team's ball of sunshine she quipped, "Must be some amazingly magical ice to freeze what you don't have." a grin spread across her face as he laughed at her little joke. He always used his comedic abilities to brighten the day of his friends, it felt nice to return the favor. The door creaked open as a rather deflated red head shuffled out into the hall, the sound of the door firmly closing shut behind him echoed thru the sparsely occupied hall. Verne obviously still felt bad about what had happened to his room mate, and judging by his silent refusal to look his blond friend in the eye he probably felt worse after being chewed out by the Headmistress. Awkward silence fell upon all three as Cassandra took in the atmosphere, both boys wanted to say something but were too unsure of what to say. Or just on how, as Verne undoubtedly wished to apologise without making a scene. Gus meanwhile had already forgiven him but given his infamously big mouth he feared making his friend feel worse. Despite knowing they should sort this out themselves she really wanted them to hurry up and act like they always do. Fortunately the magic book hiding in Cassy's backpack; Ubos, decided then would be an excellent time to drag the three off to someplace less open for a talk to.

Once the group had gotten into a more hidden location, which proved easier than normal on account of it being the weekend, a familiar young giant joined them. "Ilsa, right on time." With how much Ubos loved timing Gus often joked about him being a closet case clock. Choosing to ignore the humour aimed at him the old book encouraged the giant to tell of what had happened. "The magic from the bridge connecting the Land of Giants has disappeared! Without it our two worlds are cut off from each other. I won't be able to return home and I know that banished wizard, Zahless, or whatever is going to abuse it." Ilsa steamed at the thought of one of her peoples great works being misused, stomping her foot to let some of the stress out. Her little outburst sent out a tremor that knocked the smaller kids off balance, much to the floating book's amusement. "Obviously Zarlak wishes to use that magic to return to the surface. Fortunately this means locating which level within the earth he has taken said magic to is easy enough. There is only one level he could use it, so off we go." Not even waiting for a reply the book opened up activating the transportation spell sending his three chosen and Ilsa to their destination.

Luck seemed to favor them as they managed to land the exit better than normal, except for Verne who landed on his face just before the 12 foot tall blonde fell atop him. Said giant quickly rolled off the poor mortie who now felt flat enough to slide under a door. The whole world seemed so much lighter without Cassy's former room mate squishing him into the fortunately soft floor. Upon being peeled off the strangely warm ground he found himself being asked on how many fingers his witch friend was holding up, "Er, five?" his incorrect answer raised concern amongst his companions. Gus threw the redhead's arm over his shoulder, "Verne, she only held up two fingers." despite the welcomed help in standing the confused mortie still found difficulty in staying on his feet. The warmth of his friend's hand gripping his to keep his arm slung over his shoulder suddenly got his notice, as did the fact that Gus had wrapped other his arm around Verne's side to provide extra physical support. In an attempt to distract himself before his face got red he threw his attention to the ground. The ground seemed to shift under his feet making him worry about how badly he'd been flattened, "Why won't the ground stop moving? I'm-It's not easy standing like on this." despite barely being able to speak coherently he still noticed that his observation was correct. It turned out to not just be the ground, but the walls and ceiling were moving too!

Even though his concern hadn't lessened Gus couldn't help but find something oddly endearing about Verne's almost drunken attempts to get the subject of the moment off of him. A smirk slowly grew against his will as the dazed boy looked at him with an embarrassed expression, which after noticing his unwilling smile formed into a pout. The redhead even stuck out his tongue, the sight of such a childish act from a usually mature boy made him fight to not laugh. "Guys," The sound of Cassandra's voice reminded them where they were, "I'm sure you'd love to stare longingly into each others eyes all day but we have a job to do." the grin splitting her face told Gus of her thoughts. Her devious, evil thoughts. Allowing his attention to wander to his environment he noticed something rather disturbing. "Why is the floor-walls-CEILING MOVING?!"

"This my boy, is level 8: Gastronia. The entire level is made from uncountable tiny creatures that work together to create one vast singular lifeform." The floating old book chuckled at the grossed out reactions from the kids, "Yes, it is unpleasant but this stuff is harmless. We should still be careful Zarlak is down here, his minions too no doubt." Ubos then reentered the pack upon Cassy's back to rest. He'd need to recharge his power to get everyone home again or they'd be stuck. "Oh, I almost forgot," The enchanted object poked himself out of the pack, "try to not disturb anything in here." upon Verne asking "Why?" the entire environment shifted with a groan that made everyone feel so VERY small. The almost hallway like cavity in which they stood suddenly came to life as small creepy creatures scuttled on many legs between their feet, a living carpet of the things flooded the area making everyone freeze up. Thankfully the swarm departed as quickly as it had arrived, "Just Cleaners, harmless." Cassandra's hands pulled him out of her pack completely. "Okay, listen up then children. They're many different creatures living down here which are all part of the same being. A superorganism, I think the word is. All native creatures here while individuals are all connected by one powerful mind. You mess with one inhabitant and Gastronia itself may take offence." The look of fear on all those young faces didn't fill him with confidence, "I trust you'll be careful, yes?" as expected all the youngsters replied with a resounding "Yes!" or would have if the sphincter that the two boys were unwittingly stood upon hadn't opened dropping them both screaming down into the dark then resealed itself before the girls could grab them.

An orange orb sat on the ceiling watched the whole thing undetected, Gastronia had been aware of its little visitors since the minute they arrived. The interactions from the two holding each other intrigued it, it wanted to know more and since it didn't know how to ask, it decided to simply take.

For poor Verne the world changed so abruptly that he didn't even know what had happened, he found himself lying flat on his back staring up at the opening in the ceiling from which he had fallen thru. Fortunately the fall seemed to knock his rattled brain back into working order again, as his thoughts began to clarify, he recalled the ground suddenly disappeared beneath him and Gus sending them tumbling down a seemingly endless tunnel. There hadn't been any room in that squishy place forcing both boys to get pressed uncomfortably close together, the only thing keeping them from getting stuck were the pulsations of the fleshy walls forcing them along. Looking around him he couldn't seem to find his half-elven friend, had he landed someplace else? The thought of abandonment creeped into his brain forcing him to shake his head to try and rid himself of such hurtful nonsense. He absently noted the surface upon which he lay didn't feel the same, his pondering on this came to a screeching halt upon hearing a pain filled cough. He suddenly realised where Gus had ended up; he'd landed on him. Judging by how high up the opening in the ceiling they had fallen from they must've taken quite the fall.

The peaceful darkness that Gus had found himself in shattered as pain erupted within his body, following this a rather heavy weight rolled off him removing unwanted pressure on his lungs which seemed to burn as they filled themselves with much needed air. The coughing fit that inevitably followed didn't do anything to lessen the pain in his chest, but the voice of a certain friend did put his mind at ease. Forcing his eyes to open he saw a familiar red head looking down at him, as his vision started to clear the pain in his back seemed to stab every nerve, the only noise that pulled its way out of his throat was a small squeak. Either that had been one long drop or Verne could stand to lose a few pounds. He would tell him that but at the moment checking to see if anything was broken proved to be a good priority to start with, then he'd make a rubbish joke to lighten the mood. Coughing some more as he asked, "Hey, could you give me a hand bud? I'm a bit winded." he hoped none of his ribs had broken. He held onto Verne as the two helped each other to their feet, how happy they'd be when they could go home and just sleep all the pain off. Leaning on one another for support the human and the half-elf hobbled their way to where they hoped they'd bump into the rest of the group so they could check Ubos for any restoration spells that'll help make them feel not so brittle and bruised. The sound of a door squelching open got their attention good thing to as it revealed two of Zarlack's minions; Rowce and Snerrot. Quickly noticing the intruders the small ugly dragon-like creatures combined into their large two headed form, "It's the big Elf and the Mortie!" growled one head while the other cackled "Quick, grab'em!" just before they lunged at both boys who due to they're weakened state sadly failed to get equip their wands in time.

Ilsa forced the Gastronia equivalent of a door to open allowing her and Cassandra to move thru the fleshy caverns in search of their lost friends, they couldn't follow them down the way they had fallen so another route had to be found. It didn't take them long to run into trouble, in the form of three large armoured spiney fanged beasts charging down the way behind them, it seemed that a certain superorganism didn't approve of them forcing entry deeper into it. The girls decided to run rather than fight, without the strength of numbers fighting such monsters would be stupid indeed. Some doors slammed shut as others opened, unknown to the girls Gastronia was herding them to a destination of it's choosing, straight to the evil wizard Zarlack.

"Why won't this WORK?!" Said evil wizard Zarlack as he raged at the artifact known as the Door of Worlds; a floating circle of rune carved stone, wood, metal, and bone, he'd been trying to use the Giant Bridge magic to open it but it refused to activate leaving him pulling out his hair in frustration. The sound of his bundling minions chattering amongst themselves did no favours for his nerves but the sight of two of his enemies clasped firmly in the blue hydra's clawed hands removed his headache. Breaking into laughter at obtaining potential bargaining chips to get his bony fingers on the Ultimate Book of Spells, he failed to notice the pair of large tentacles reaching down from above until they already snatched the prisoners out of his grasp. "What do you think you're doing, you grotesque abomination?!" Zarlack roared as a massive glowing organ emerged from the ceiling and lifted both boys up away from the evil wizard.

Gastronia wanted to know more of the lads in it's grip and wouldn't allow anything stop it, not even a supreme wizard could do much to deter the great beast from getting the knowledge it sought. Not put off in the slightest by all the commotion it's snatching caused the vast creature pulled the two visitors closer to the giant organ from which a large proboscis emerged ready to probe them for knowledge, it hadn't even seen a mortie and half-elf before making it wonder what it could learn from them.

Gus couldn't believe how badly things were going for them today, it wouldn't seem so farfetched to think a curse of bad luck had been placed on them, thou he did find the sight of Zarlack pulling out his hair to be very entertaining. A scream ruined his small moment of mirth as he saw Verne being lifted up to the bizarre glowing mass, that writhing tube like extension opened a second before engulfing the poor morty's head despite his struggles to free himself. "Verne! Hold on buddy, I'll get you free!" Shouted Gus as he attempted to reach his wand only for it to fall from his person to the fleshy floor below, leaving him unable to use magic to escape and the tentacle that wrapped his body still held him helpless in it's grip. His urgency to break free grew as Verne's struggles lessened, the thought of freedom began to seem so distant as the sounds of monsters thundered from everywhere. The welcomed sound of Cassy calling his name reached him even over the cacophony of noise from Zarlack going nuts attacking the horde of skittering beasts, the sight of the young witch emerging thru a open door of flesh with Ilsa gave him new hope. "Cassy get us down from here, this thing's doing gross weird stuff to Verne!" His call for aid didn't go unnoticed by anyone, not even the evil wizard. Suddenly the tendril holding him moved lifted the unlucky elf up to the proboscis as it spat out Verne, the nasty tube reaching for him next. Judging by the limp form of the mortie, having his head swallowed would be very, very bad.

Poor, poor Verne felt so grossed out by what had been done to his head, having an alien intelligence crawling in his mind made him feel disturbed. Most of what happened next became lost to him as he drifted in and out of consciousness, the sight of Ilsa punting Zarlack into the horde of charging creatures would have made him laugh if his brain didn't feel like mush. A flash of blue light followed by a roar that shook the world were the last things he witnessed before he blacked out, the faint sounds of his Cassy's shouting voice whispered in his ear as everything seemed to stop. One final thought flittered thru his mind. "Why me?"

Gus thanked his luck as Cassandra's shock spell hit the sensitive inner part of the mind probe causing a nasty stinging sensation forcing the giant organ to drop him, fortunately due to being part elf he managed to land on his feet, unlike poor Verne, who in his current state merely fell. Not having time to grab his wand the aspiring blond wizard caught his falling friend by launching himself towards him, and despite being being the smallest of the three the falling redhead managed to flatten him again. "Got him..." He wheezed as he slowly sat himself up, even this simple act took effort as the smaller boy had impacted pretty hard. The sight of the witch getting started in releasing the stolen magic gave him the encouragement he needed to pull himself to his feet with the surprisingly heavy body of his other friend in his arms.

A blinding light filled the cavern as the magic erupted free of the frame it had been forced into, the magic condensed into a small -by giant standards- gem form for transport. With the mission complete Cassy called Ilsa, who was keeping busy stomping and kicking everything in front of her, to their side. Eager to leave the disgusting realm in which they had ventured the young giant quickly regrouped with the others, once she stood next to them Ubos used his magic to transport everyone back to the surface, leaving Zarlack to deal with Gastronia's outrage. Fortunately the trip back provided less of a rocky landing without Ilsa landing on anyone, Cassy broke her landing by rolling, whilst Gus managed to land on his feet thou Verne's weight did knock him off balance causing him to quickly face plant.

"Gus, how's Verne?" Despite Cassandra's concern for both of her friends the wellbeing of the unconscious one took priority. After helping the half-elf back upright she immediately looked Verne over for any injuries, luckily nothing seemed to be broken despite all that he had been thru during that mission. Ubos used a spell to check both boys for any internal damage, "Good news Gus; no serious physical harm has been done, you'll ache for a while but you should be fine after a good night sleep." just as the kids were about to ask him about Verne's health the redhaired boy started to groan.

"Hey, Bud. How you feeling?" Gus asked as those blue eyes groggily opened up, the poor guy seemed so drained that he only managed to mumble a few barely understandable words before drifting off to sleep. The elf watched the magic book hover close to the sleeping boy in his arms, "I'm afraid Gastronia's attempts to gain knowledge from the poor boy must have been very taxing upon him, it's best that he rests." as the book then turned his attention to the girls, telling them about the magic gem, the sleeping mortie began fidgeting. After a second of this the smaller boy settled down again once he got comfortable, "Gus, you get him to his bed, Ilsa shall return the magic of the Giant's Bridge. I'll drop off Ubos back in my room." without waiting another second the girls ventured off leaving him alone, with his only company sleeping heavily in his arms. Emphasis on heavy, either Verne weighed more than he looked or Gus could stand to start lifting a little. "Alright, bud. Let's get you to our room, before my arms snap off."

Dodging any attention was fairly easy as they had returned at lunch time, opening the door to their room with his hands full proved challenging thou. Clamping the door handle between his teeth he managed to get the door open then kicked it shut behind him once he got into the room. Eager to let his arms rest he quickly set Verne down on his bed as gently as his wobbling limbs and aching back would allow. Once his arms were free of it's burden they felt so light, floppy even. With his mortie friend curling up on his bed he could get something to eat, he'd bring some food back in case Verne woke up hungry too. Watching his friend sleeping peacefully for a few moments the half-elf decided that he'd be fine being alone for a minute, then he'd spend all day with him when he wakes up. Just as he left the room whimpers reached his ears making them wiggle, looking back into the room he saw Verne shivering which filled him with concern. Walking back to his friend's bed to get a better look, he somehow got grabbed by the sleeping redhead and stuck lying on the bed with him. Too scared to move and too hungry to stay, Gus felt rather conflicted as to what his next move should be, not that he could move with the grip Verne's arms had managed to get on him. The elf quickly learned that every time he tried to move away the hold on him would simply tighten, to avoid being constricted he changed tactics, "Verne, could you please let go man? I'm really hungry and-" the sounds of Cassy's giggling interrupted him. Sighing he subconsciously pivoted his ear to better listen as Cassandra stopped laughing at him long enough to speak, "I never thought you the cuddling type." if not for fear of his ribs breaking he'd happily zap her with his wand, she'd not be so smug if her hair got shocked into a spiky afro.

The agitated grumbles from the trapped blond simply made this scene even better for Cassy, she had to clamp her hands over her mouth to keep her voice down, as much as she wanted to be guffawing herself to the floor she didn't want to wake Verne. "Don't worry Gus, I won't tell anyone about your snugglefest." The glare she received for her teasing tickled her funny bone, especially as Verne squeezed making Gus squeak like a chew toy. "Why don't you stop laughing and help, Cassy? At least get me out of his grip, before my ribs break!" He managed to growl thru gritted teeth, his twitching hands showing the pain his ribs felt from the pressure. Resting a hand on Verne's shoulder she gave it a shake whilst calling his name got his attention making those blue eyes creak open. "Wake up Verne, it's lunch time. Also, you should really let go of Gus, he's still sore." The boy's arms loosened up allowing his impromptu teddy to squirm off the bed. With both of her lads pulling themselves together she appointed herself the duty of getting food for the group, since she didn't trust either of them doing so in their condition. By the time she'd get back the awkwardness in the room should have increased to lovely new levels anyway, which amused the witch. Quickly grabbing some foodstuffs Cassandra made her way back, careful not to drop anything she eagerly walked at a brisk pace to the room. Despite her humour at their expense she felt great relief at knowing neither were seriously hurt, as much fun she has trolling them, she enjoyed seeing them happy even more.

Having spent all day with Cassandra's teasings Gus felt thankful when the day finally ended, leaving just his roommate for company; whom sat upon his bed with a set of cards in hand. They often played card games, as the half-elf had decided to teach his friend the art of bluffing, and cheating. The mortie's poker face left something to be desired as it was obvious that he didn't feel confident in his chances, which Gus easily picked up on. Playfully he smirked at Verne, watching the way he squirmed under the pressure of it being his move. He loved having the upper hand. "C'mon Verne we don't have all night." Fidgeting in anticipation of another win he'd already decided what his prize should be for this round, he'd already 'won' Verne's phone and wand for the night.

Knowing that he would most likely lose regardless Verne decided that he'd at least lose on his own terms, he went all in. The smug look on the half-elf's face told him he had lost even before Gus revealed his own cards; two aces and a king. Maybe Zarlack was trying that whole 'give-Gus-unnatural-luck-to-drive-everyone-insane-plot' again. "Alright, you want my scoot zoomer next? Or maybe my dignity?" Sighed the redhead as he facepalmed.

Moments later Verne was sat on his bed rubbing the ear of a certain insufferable half-elf, whom leaned on him while purring loudly. Despite the volume pulsing in his own ears, Verne found the rhythmic noise somewhat soothing. Feeling himself getting sleepy he stopped, allowing his tired arm to flop to his side. Gus had already gotten so relaxed by the massage that he'd fallen asleep, probably minutes ago knowing him. Unwilling to put in the effort of moving the big elf, the young mortie let himself fall back upon his bed, his head landing on his pillow as the cards scattered onto the floor.

Both boys slept soundly with one of Verne's legs dangling over the side of the bed as Gus rested his head upon his friend's warm belly, neither of them noticing Cassandra hovering behind the window silently cackling to herself.


End file.
